Absinthe and Potpourri
by MulberryFlower
Summary: Eagerly anticipating his friend's arrival in Humilau, Kyouhei finds himself overwhelmed with Mei's sudden disconnect from their game plan. Trying frantically to discover what's weighing so heavily on her mind, he finds himself caught up in the chaos caused by Team Plasma.


**Writer's Notes: This piece has been in progress for over a year! I didn't want to publish it until I figured out exactly how to conclude it; I truly wanted everything to be _just right._ It's a little more raw than some of my previous pieces - I primarily wanted to experiment with something slightly outside the realm of my usual fluffy fare. In spite of the grittiness, it's still one of my favorite pieces. I hope you have as much fun reading it as I did writing it! And, as always, thank you for visiting my page.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon!**

* * *

The temperature of Humilau City vacillated between arid nights and unbelievably sticky afternoons. So much so, that Kyouhei found himself sitting on the sandy beach, trying in vain to appear content as the pseudo-tropical water washed up _just_ a little higher, _just_ a little further with each wave, edging against the hem of his cargo shorts and the soles of his shoes.

'Where the hell _is_ she?' he thinks; he hasn't seen her in _days _now and it's so unlike his traveling companion to be leisurely when it comes to her quest to conquer the League. He has already obtained the city's Gym Badge – _days_ ago – and he's beginning to grow impatient. Impatient is an understatement, he thinks, as he draws swirling lines in the sand with calloused fingertips before he surrenders to another day in her absence. He springs up from his seat and hurriedly turns back in the direction of the Pokémon Center.

* * *

He's in the lobby when he first sees _him_ – a boy who is the spitting image of Kyouhei himself, perhaps two years older and six inches taller. His hair is longer, shaggier, but the same shade of chestnut. He meets Kyouhei's eyes as the younger boy walks into the building and Kyouhei chokes on his mouthful of water, accidentally spitting it back into the plastic bottle as he moves. He stares in disbelief as an older girl, who reminds him far too much of Mei, meets the boy in the middle of the room and places a shockingly unsubtle kiss on his lips. He watches quietly as the two ascend the stairs.

* * *

Four days pass; his impatience has faded, replaced by frustration. _Where is Mei, where is Mei? _She doesn't answer his Xtransceiver calls. Kyouhei collapses onto the top bunk of the room he's sharing with Hugh at the Pokémon Center and presses on his closed eyelids until his vision is nothing but a clouded mass of blue swirls, the color of bruises.

He feels bruised. Whether it is his body or his ego; he cannot tell.

* * *

He sees the boy again as he trudges back to his room that evening. The stranger is about to open the door to the neighboring room when he appears to notice Kyouhei standing in the hallway, mouth agape. The older boy gives a tight-lipped smile and closes the door behind him.

Through the walls, Kyouhei hears the faint sound of the boy's voice, accompanied by the laughter of the girl. He realizes, through unintentional eavesdropping, that they are together.

It isn't until Hugh delivers a forceful kick to the underside of the top bunk's mattress and asks him if he's okay that he realizes he isn't.

He misses Mei.

* * *

He finally meets the stranger for real the next day. He's standing in the hallway again as Kyouhei emerges from his own room.

They exchange a glance, and Kyouhei realizes that he's the only awkward one in the situation as the older boy extends a hand.

"Touya." says the stranger.

"Kyouhei."

The younger boy notes that even their eye color is the same.

Touya smiles warmly at him before asking, "Are you okay, kid?"

"What? Uh... yeah."

The older boy raises an eyebrow in disbelief, and for a moment Kyouhei believes that he is going to ask another question, but the door swings open and the brown-haired girl peeks out from the room. She introduces herself as Touko and snakes an arm around Touya's waist.

Her eyes are the same ocean blue as Mei's.

* * *

The enigma finally appears in Humilau the following day.

She is exhausted, Kyouhei can tell by the haze in her crystalline eyes. It is only early evening but her voice comes out as a broken, destitute whine, and he cannot refuse her as she asks to stay in their room tonight.

Hugh makes a noncommittal sound and agrees.

As they walk through the hall, Touko and Touya leave their room and ask him if he wants to join them for a late lunch at the beach. Kyouhei declines politely and introduces Mei. She's a superb actor, he realizes, as she musters up a nearly-authentic-looking smile. Touya nods; Touko does not appear convinced. He hurriedly guides Mei into his room.

He helps her up the ladder to the top bunk, figuring it's the best place for her to be considering Hugh won't want to share his bunk, and realizes that he has nothing to worry about; she is safe. She is tired and dazed, but she is safe.

These thoughts appease his melancholy mood as he scrambles up the ladder to sit on the edge of the mattress with her. She pulls the bands out of her hair and allows the trademark hair buns to tumble and uncurl around her hips; their sheer lengths pooling as they reach the mattress. She collapses back onto the bed with a sigh. Kyouhei finds himself untying and removing her shoes before settling in next to her. Her breathing slows, but Kyouhei cannot keep his mind from wondering. She's temperamental, but she's never seemed quite so… vacant in their more-than-a-decade long friendship.

* * *

She is asleep instantly. Kyouhei slips into the small space next to her and feels the short, wooden frame pressing into his back as he tries to leave her as much room as he can on the mattress. It fails, and he finds himself much closer to her than expected, two teenage bodies forced into proximity within the tiny confines of a single mattress. She lets out a sigh and shifts closer to him. He guilelessly wraps an arm around her and holds her in her sleep.

He realizes that he'll be sharing a bed with her tonight. He realizes the implication. He realizes what any other man would do in the situation, but he can't, he won't, he _mustn't. _She isn't his to touch; not yet, anyway.

* * *

Mei sleeps through the rest of the evening and into the night.

Hugh returns to the room, exhausted and sweaty from training, and hisses into the air.

"Kyouhei!"

The boy peers down from the little wall of the top bunk.

"Yeah?"

"She still asleep?"

"Mmhmm."

"Did she say anything?"

"Nope."

In the dark privacy provided by his own eyelids, Kyouhei wonders what the _hell_ is going on.

* * *

She is a concoction of glossy lips and saccharine smiles the next morning. He asks her how she's feeling; her responses are perfectly timed and carefully crafted.

They are falsities.

She disappears into the city, off to accomplish whatever she meant to do today.

* * *

He trudges across the beach, sulking in solitude when he finds Touya and Touko sitting at a picnic table, just a few feet away from the salty reach of the high tide.

Touya motions him over and he obliges, though not without a fair amount of hesitance. Touko's voice is all concern as she asks him what's on his mind.

"Mei."

"What?" the older girl questions.

"A girl..."

"I see," she nods. "I see."

"How old are you, Kyouhei?" Touya asks.

"Seventeen." He replies, though he doesn't understand the purpose of the question. Touya hesitates momentarily, but Touko nods her approval. Wordlessly, Touya hands him a bottle. Kyouhei accepts it takes a careful sip. The liquid itself is cold, but it creates a warm, buttery, _nauseating_ feeling in the back of his throat. He forces it down, trying to gag as little as possible. Touko giggles.

"Absinthe." Touya explains. "You can just keep that."

Kyouhei shoves the flask into his bag and continues down the beach.

* * *

There is more to them than meets the eye, Kyouhei realizes, as he sees Touya leading Touko up the stairs the following evening. They're the parallels of Mei and him; and he wonders if they recognize it, too.

* * *

The next time Kyouhei sees them, they are accompanied by two very familiar faces: the onyx-haired Leader of the Aspertia Gym and Professor Juniper's bubbly, blonde assistant.

Touko calls him over to their spot on the beach and he obliges. The second he reaches the table, Cheren's face lights up in recognition and Bianca flings herself up from the table and delivers a massively strong hug.

"Kyouhei!" she squeals, ignoring the fact that the boy has stumbled back from the force of her hug as he reaches up to adjust his visor.

"I didn't know you two –" he gestures to Cheren and Bianca "– knew Touko and Touya."

"Oh, yes indeed." Cheren explains. "We're old friends."

Touya cuts into the conversation: "How's that flask holding out for you, man?"

"Disgusting," Kyouhei decides not to mince words. Touya laughs.

"You gave him _alcohol_?!" Cheren chastises his friend. "He is seventeen!"

"We're nineteen, Cheren. It's not like we can technically buy the stuff, either." Touko points out. Kyouhei is momentarily stunned but recovers quickly. '_They're underage? But they're so much worldlier than I am!_' He mentally kicks himself for not seeing it coming.

"Well, yeah, but we're... adults!" Cheren sputters.

"Come on, Cheren, lighten up!" Bianca scolds playfully. Realization sparks in Kyouhei's mind.

"Wait, are you two... together?" he asks.

"Yep!" Bianca chirps, flinging an arm around Cheren's shoulders. Kyouhei notices the older boy turning slightly red and feels a rush of envy.

* * *

Mei flings open the door to the bedroom later that night. Kyouhei is already half-asleep, but Hugh is wide awake, fiddling with his Xtransceiver.

"Good night, Hugh." Her tone is even, flat.

"Good night."

She shimmies up the ladder and sandwiches her body next to Kyouhei's. He shifts to make room for her on the mattress, and she wastes no time with slipping in next to him.

"You smell pretty," Kyouhei whispers. Even in his dazed state, he swears he can see her rolling her eyes at him.

'_What the hell is going on with her?'_

* * *

He slumps against the wall in the hallway, tousled brown locks creating friction against dismal yellow paint as his back slides down, down, down until he is sitting on the mud-colored shag carpet.

To anyone else, the color of the hallway might have been described as "vibrant", the same brilliant yellow as one of the many shades of the Humilau sunset. To Kyouhei, it is obscene; the tarnished, impure version of crisp white.

He thinks of _where he could be_ in contrast to _where he is._

* * *

Touya hands him another vile-smelling beverage.

He doesn't drink – not habitually, anyway – but he's more than happy to comply this time. This is Humilau, after all: the land of beaches and sunsets and scantily-clad swimmer girls hovering playfully in the shallows when they should be training. It's almost a vacation. Almost.

It isn't a vacation for Mei, though, because she storms by once again, badge in hand, gait slightly angry, countenance vacant and bland.

He is up and chasing after her within seconds.

"Mei! Mei, you won your badge! That's fantastic!"

She doesn't answer.

* * *

The filthy, yellow wall is quickly becoming his best friend.

He slumps against it; dirt streaks are inevitably going to appear all over his back, but he doesn't _care_ – he only cares about one thing right now, and she's out dripping her sugary-sweet venom all over the beachside city.

She was so _sweet_ just last week, all fire and zeal and enthusiasm and now she's the candy-coated incarnation of viciousness.

Hugh wordlessly sits down beside him. Kyouhei takes another sip from his recently-refilled flask and hands the vial to his best friend. Hugh takes a mouthful of the green spirit and winces violently, opening his mouth and allowing the waterfall of foul-tasting alcohol to cascade. It makes a wet stain on the dirty carpet, but Kyouhei ignores it and forces himself to swallow.

"What is this shit?" Hugh demands.

"Absinthe," Kyouhei responds, taking another sip.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

* * *

Another Plasma grunt is chased away from the beach by the hand of the girl. Kyouhei rounds the bend and sees the slender figure; echoes of "Frenzy Plant!" and "Leaf Tornado!" resounding through the air. Careful fingers fly to his belt loops, ready to unleash Emboar from his Poké Ball, but the grunt's Liepard has already fallen before Mei's Grass-type powerhouse.

"And that will _teach you!_" she shouts, her voice reaching a frighteningly shrill pitch at the end of her sentence. The grunt turns tail and dodges out of sight. She turns to face her male counterpart, and he takes notice of the streaks of dirt and sweat on her face.

"Kyouhei."

"Mei."

A pause.

"Are you alright?" He begins again. She exhales: short and sharp, an excessively pained sound given the context.

"Yes," she replies curtly. She exhales, squares her shoulders, smiles and breezes past him, an illusory happiness projected for purposes unknown. He doesn't chase after her this time, allowing her to go without further questioning. He still doesn't understand her wildly inconsistent behavior, but he can't help but to take notice of her smile. No matter how fabricated it might be, it's still the most fascinating sight he's ever seen.

* * *

Agile footsteps pound the halls of the Humilau Pokémon Center, racing until they find the way back to the dingy, dimly-lit, saltwater-blue room. Kyouhei flings open the door and finds Hugh fiddling with his Xtransceiver. He shoots his best friend a pleading glance: half exhaustion; half desperation.

"Why are we still here?"

"At the Center?" Hugh inquires. "Or in this city?"

"Either or."

* * *

He's alone in the room, questioning his own sanity. _'Does anyone else see the problem?'_ he wonders, _'Or am I just overreacting?'_ He traces his fingers through the potpourri on the side table in his room at the Center, turning the blossoms and branches over in his palms and trying to come up with a way to communicate with her.

* * *

Another brilliant sunset sends rays of tropical pink and incandescent orange skimming across the ocean's surface. Traveling trainers have crowded out the waiting room and lobby at the Center, driving the restless adolescent away from the crowd and out into the surrounding area.

He finds Touko and Touya outside of the facility, dancing in time to the rhythm of a dreamy melody. A small, wireless radio – certainly older than he is – sits on a nearby table, sound pouring from the tiny speakers. Touko makes eye contact and smiles brightly at him, gesturing for him to approach. His eyes flit from the spectacle of the two of them, arm-in-arm to the trainers milling about in the distance. He takes notice of the way her bare feet move across the sand, carrying her tiny body with an astonishing amount of poise and grace; the way Touya leads her with precise and defined movements. He approaches tentatively; not wanting to interfere on their time together, regardless of Touko's permission. He stops and makes small talk for just a few minutes before leaving the two to enjoy their privacy.

As he walks, he wonders whether Mei will ever be his the way that Touko is so obviously Touya's.

* * *

He meanders past the Pokémon Center and wanders along the docks on the northern end of the city, watching the Frillish and Staryu circle in the waters beneath him. She tears past him, coming from the direction of Route 22. He pauses for a split second to glance up at the hilly terrain to the west of the city, wondering what happened to send her into a full-blown frenzy. Not waiting around for answers this time, he darts off after her and surfs across Route 21 without a second thought.

* * *

Seaside Cave is difficult to navigate; he coats himself with Max Repel and darts out of sight when he spies other trainers. He doesn't have the _time_ to battle right now – he's on a mission to pin down Mei and get the answers that he's been waiting for. Nothing can prepare him, however, for the sight of the massive ship that's been docked outside of the cave's eastern entrance. He recognizes it immediately; he's seen it at Castelia's docks and outside of Driftveil's Pokémon World Tournament.

Two familiar voices resound from the decks above him: Mei's frenzied exclamations and Hugh's low-pitched, shouted commands. He clamors frantically for a way onto the ship, but the ramp has been closed and, despite several attempts, he cannot scale the side of the vessel. An unfamiliar, masculine voice rings out from somewhere above him – a cry of agitation, followed by Mei's pained-but-elated victory shout. Hugh drops the ramp and the two descend the stairs, freezing when they see him waiting on the narrow beach. Hugh gives a solemn, wordless nod and calls Unfezant out of his Poké Ball, vanishing into the sky and leaving his two friends behind.

* * *

Mei whirls around to face him, her expression somewhere between fury and panic.

"Now do you understand?!" she shouts. He manages a tentative nod and waits for her to explain the details.

"We were attacked. Multiple times. By the Plasmids."

"And I wasn't aware of this because…?"

"Because they went after Hugh, and they went after me. And they would have gone after you, too."

His expression softens as realization washes over him in gratifying waves.

Mei's veneer cracks and she allows her shoulders to relax.

"You didn't need to be a part of it because it was _dangerous_, Kyouhei. Not that I don't think you're capable – I know that you are, but they could have _hurt_ you."

He doesn't premeditate or comprehend the motion; he doesn't even realize that it's happening until he finds himself pulling her towards him, wrapping her in a protective and relieved hug. They are still and quiet for a moment, waiting until her pulse slows and his thoughts stop spiraling.

She intertwines his fingers loosely through his and they walk quietly back to Seaside Cave.

* * *

That night at the Pokémon Center is an unusual one – she carefully explains the entirety of the predicament to him, pausing to gauge his reactions. He meets her stares with determined nods and wide-eyed affirmation.

"We're not in the clear yet," she tells him. "There's still a lot of fighting yet to come."

Kyouhei locks his chestnut eyes with her cerulean ones and gives her a confident nod of approval. He's not letting her go at it alone this time, and she knows it. Moreover, she knows not to bother with attempting to dissuade him – his defiant streak is just as unflappable as hers.

Finally content with the answers that he's received, Kyouhei turns his focus back to Mei and the battles that await them.


End file.
